Recently, along with the wide use of personal computers and the commercialization of a large screen display such as a Plasma Display Panel (PDP), a personal computer display system for displaying at the store with the use of the large screen display as a display of the personal computer has been increasingly put into practical use.
The personal computer display system allowing the personal computer to execute application software such as presentation software and a Web browser and display it on the large screen display is increasingly recognized as a new advertising medium.
The advertising medium, in many cases, displays a video signal in TV format such as SDTV and HDTV. In this case, optical disks such as a VTR, a DVD and a CD-R/RW are commonly used as a signal source for the video signal.
FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of the conventional personal computer display system. The personal computer display system is composed of a personal computer 1001, a VTR 1010 and a display device 1011. The personal computer 1001 includes a CPU 1002, a system memory 1003, a host-PCI bridge 1004, a graphics controller 1005, a hard disk drive 1006, a peripheral controller 1007, a keyboard 1008, and a mouse 1009. The display device 1011 has an input switching unit 1012 and a monitor 1013.
The following describes the conventional personal computer display system with reference to FIG. 1.
Firstly, a case of executing presentation software that is one of application software and displaying it on the display is explained. The presentation software is executed as in the following.
The user instructs the CPU 1002 via the peripheral controller 1007 as well as the host-PCI bridge 1004 to execute the program of the presentation software through the operation of the keyboard 1008 and the mouse 1009.
Then, the CPU 1002 reads out the program from the hard disk drive 1006 via the host-PCI bridge 1004, places, as needed, the data necessary for the system memory 1003 and executes the data.
Furthermore, in the case of executing the presentation, the CPU 1002 reads out a content file of the presentation already described in the hard disk drive 1006 through the user's operations and places the part necessary for the system memory 1003 so as to execute it. The content file is then replayed using the presentation software (i.e., an application program).
The generation of the video signal to be outputted is executed by the CPU 1002 and the graphics controller 1005. The video signal is outputted, from the graphics controller 1005 to outside in video format such as VGA, SVA and XGA, as a computer format video signal, and inputted to the display device 1011.
A dedicated input terminal for the computer format video signal such as VGA, SVGA and XGA that are video signals of the computer and a dedicated input terminal for the TV signal format are installed separately in the display device 1011. In the case of displaying an output from the graphics controller 1005, the input switching unit 1012 selects a computer format video signal that is the output from the graphics controller 1005, by operating a remote controller (although not shown in the diagram).
The video signal inputted and selected by the input switching unit 1012 is then inputted to the monitor 1013 and displayed by the monitor 1013.
In the case of displaying a TV format video signal, the VTR 1010 is required. The video is replayed by operating the VTR using the remote controller.
In the case of replaying the video, the input switching unit 1012 selects the output from the VTR 1010 by operating the remote controller. The video signal outputted from the VTR 1010 is inputted to the input switching unit 1012 and the input switching unit 1012 selects between the video signal from the VTR 1010 and the output signal outputted from the graphics controller 1005 which is outputted from the personal computer 1001. The selected video signal is outputted to the monitor 1013 and displayed by the monitor 1013.
In order to replay both the computer format video signal and the TV format video signal, the VTR 1010 capable of outputting the TV format video signal is required besides the personal computer 1001, as shown in FIG. 1. This means that at least two apparatuses are required as signal resources for display.
Meanwhile, the problem is that it is not possible to perform the detailed control on a replay of the content, e.g., switching between the presentation software and the video signal at the most applicable time position, or starting the replay of the content of one presentation software after having replayed a program based on the TV format video signal. This is because the video display of the application software operated by the personal computer 1001 and the video display operated by the VTR 1010 cannot cooperate because the operations between the personal computer 1001 and the VTR 1010 cannot be controlled.
Speaking of operations, the control over three apparatuses: the personal computer 1001, the VTR 1010 and the display device 1011, is required so that the operations are complicated.
An aim of the present invention is to replay the presentation content as well as the video content, as intended by the user through the operations only of the personal computer, by allowing the CPU's control over video decoding, the cooperation between the TV format video signal and the computer format video signal, and also, the input switching performed by the display device.
Another aim of the present invention is to set one apparatus as a signal source by placing the signal source of the video signal in the personal computer.